Separation, isolation, and concentration are process steps common to a chemical analysis. Often, these steps are taken to remove interfering substances so that a subsequent chemical analysis can be performed. This separation stage can be performed in several ways including solvent extraction, solvent evaporation, and resin exchange. Magnetic separation, another technique for removing interfering substances, is a process of separation, isolation, and concentration where the sought-for substance is attached or bound to magnetic particles. The magnetic particles offer advantages of handling including speed, convenience, and low energy input. The use of magnetic particles is particularly suited to handling samples of small volume.
Previous magnetic separation techniques have involved the movement of a sample substance through a series of magnets. This technique, although effective, is cumbersome and is subject to mechanical failures. Additionally, since during the separation process the samples are moving through a series of magnets, it is difficult to control the environment surrounding the samples, as the samples cannot be completely enclosed. Therefore, it would be desirable to eliminate the series of magnets and provide a magnetic separation technique where samples do not have to be passed through several magnets to complete the separation process.